Drake Maverick Recalls Which Action Stars He Looked Up To While Growing Up

Drake Maverick is one of many WWE Superstars who was born and raised outside of North America. He is from Birmingham, England and got his start in the business there before making his first US appearance in 2006 with Ring of Honor.

Maverick talked more about his childhood and specifically what he would do on Friday nights while growing up when he joined Uncool with Alexa Bliss.

"You might find this surprising, but I watched Monday Night RAW. But Monday Night RAW was on a Friday in England and that's what was weird because it was taped and Sky Sports would air it in like 10 o'clock and I would watch it at 10 o'clock till 12," recalled Maverick.

Even though he grew up in another country, Maverick idolized many action films stars who made their names in American films. He was asked who his favorite celebrities were while growing up.

"The common thread was Patrick Swayze. EC3 and I send back and forth cool action movie stuff. In three movies, he just became my favorite. I was a massive Schwarzenegger fan because I was a Hulk Hogan fan watching wrestling," said Maverick. "Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Rocky, Rambo, Arnold in Terminator, Predator, Commando ? anything involving muscles and out of this world. If I could pick an action figure of these people, I could see the action figure on TV and go, 'God, I wish I was like them.'

"I always loved bodybuilding, but I have no interest in ever doing it because? me, I'm a fan of watching it, but this is not for me. It's like a wrestling fan who likes WWE but doesn't want to be a WWE Superstar. So, with Swayze, he kind of became my favorite out of all of them because he was just a bad ass and could rip a guy's throat because he's Dalton [from Road House]. That's what Dalton did and he made my mom happy. He made my mom happy and I didn't realize it until a couple of years ago.

"That's probably why he's my favorite because watching him so many times, he was my mom's favorite. He made her happy which made me happy. I really wish I was able to meet him when we did all those conventions or whatever, but God rest his soul. He died at a young age. A very young age. I would love to be able to say to him, 'You're the best.'"

Keeping up with the title of Bliss' podcast, she asked Maverick if there was anything in his childhood that made him feel uncool.

"Especially in school, I think there was a feeling of uncoolness. I did go through bullying, but now when I look back at it ? now that I'm older ? I probably deserved every bit of it because I wouldn't shut up," admitted Maverick before being asked what he would tell his younger self now.

"I would tell myself, 'Dude, it's going to get better. This is going to make you tough.' Now, you're talking the guy who was asked to pee himself on live pay-per-view, 'Yeah, I'll do it.' You ask me to do it, I'll do it and a lot of people would be walking around in embarrassment today and I did it entertain people. Did people think it was stupid? Maybe. Did people react to it? Stuff like that, it was the badge of honor. I do stuff that makes other people happy at the expense of myself because I can take it. And over the years and being able to take that sort of metal grind and even getting thrown across to a locker, head first, on my first day of wrestling training.

"I might be the little guy, but I'm mentally tough and physically tough because of what I've been through. But these are the things that have shaped me and these are the things that made me better. This is my shield. You're never going to get past that. I'm fine. Nothing you can do will harm me because I have no problems with doing with myself."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Uncool with Alexa Bliss with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.